The Vampire's Luna

Chapter 213: I Thought I Was Dreaming

"I thought I was dreaming. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me," Isolde whispered, her voice trembling. "Of all people, me—Isolde. Bottom of everything, mated to the King of Blood City. Do you know what this rejection would do to me?...It would reduce me even further into nothingness."

Her desperation was real, carved into the slope of her shoulders and the quiver in her breath. He knew that pain. Not long ago, it had lived inside him too. When Luna first rejected their bond—when she had walked away.

He swallowed hard, chest tightening as the thread between him and Isolde pulsed again. He didn’t want this. He didn’t ask for it. He hadn’t chosen her.

But he couldn’t deny the magic.

Isolde saw the hesitation in his eyes and mistook it for surrender. She stepped closer, so close he could feel the warmth of her breath. Slowly, she rose on her toes. Her eyes searched his, and then fluttered closed as she tilted her head and leaned in, her lips parting, reaching for his.

Damien’s gaze dropped, despite himself, to her mouth.

So close.

*****

Luna descended the steps into Sage Veyron’s secret meeting chamber.

Thessa had walked with her until they reached a thick metal door hidden behind a curtain in the lowest cellar of Veyron’s house.

"This is as far as I go, Your Majesty," Thessa said, eyes vigilant.

Luna turned to her, laying a gentle hand on her arm. "Thank you, Thessa. I will remember this."

Luna took a breath and pushed the heavy door open.

The room inside was cloaked in semi-darkness, lit only by a single lamp flickering in the far corner. In the dimness, five figures sat spaced out in a half-circle formation. They wore dark hooded cloaks, their faces hidden in shadow.

This was the Order.

"Your Majesty. We got your message," the woman among them said.

She moved toward the empty chair at the head of the oval table.

"Thank you for heeding my call. Sage Veyron said if I needed help, to contact you. I need you all now. I need your resources, I need your ears."

The woman nodded once. "We are sworn to protect the royal heir, Your Majesty, and whatever it is that you need, we will provide."

Luna gave a small nod in return, but her eyes were hard.

"You have been going about your objective all wrong, I must say. Why should the royal heirs need protecting when you all know who they need protection from?"

The room tensed at her words.

"You protected Damien until he took the throne, and now you plan on protecting our child. For how long will you continue this?"

"Eliminating a member of the royal house is dangerous and treasonous," a second voice murmured, deeper, male, from the left side of the room.

"All these while, Gabriel has made sure he has stayed just within the edge of the law. But I know—and am absolutely sure—there are crimes he is committing. A man like that cannot keep his hands clean."

"What do you need?"

"I need him followed. I need him watched. I want to know where he goes. I want to know what he eats. I want to know when he wakes. I want to know his allies, people he meets with. Infiltrate his home, his social circle. I want to know everything. There must be something in his pattern that points us at his crimes."

"We need a safe network of sending messages to you."

Of course. They couldn’t just report to the palace. There were spies everywhere—some in places Luna couldn’t yet see. Every communication line was a potential breach. Luna had considered this long before stepping into the chamber. She nodded slowly, her jaw set.

"I trust one person who can do it. You may not like it, but if you are willing to work with me, you must be willing to work with him too. Talon."

"We need a pickup spot."

Finally, the same female voice offered, "Every night at Waldorf Restaurant, table 7. If there is a message, it will be beneath the table."

"I urge you all to also be careful. I need you to assume that there are enemies in every corner."

"Your majesty, a question." A man spoke up.

"Of course."

"Any word about the questioning on the blood allegations?"

"Not yet. But I have been made to realise that all of this going on was orchestrated by Gabriel to get to the heir. I promise you, the heir will be safe." Luna’s voice was quiet but steely. She didn’t need to raise her voice to sound dangerous. It was all in the way she held herself now.

"How can you be so sure?"

Luna let a small, mysterious smile grace her lips. Her eyes glittered with memory.

"Because I have a father. A mighty father. He always comes through."

As the words left her lips, an image surfaced in her mind—Morvakar, her father in everything but blood. He had once told her he would never let her fall. And Luna believed him.

She rose then and they all bowed.

Outside the chamber, Thessa stood waiting as always. Her eyes scanned Luna.

"How was it?" she asked.

Luna exhaled, her shoulders squaring with conviction.

"The war has begun, Doctor Thessa. The war has begun."

She ascended the steps of Sage Veyron’s residence.

*****

Instead of heading to the castle where she and the king lived, Luna gave instruction to Thessa as they got into the car. That was not where she needed to be tonight.

She told Thessa to drop her off at her former building. The car glided silently through the hushed streets of Blood City. Most windows were dark, but the city never truly slept. noveldrama

As the car approached the building, Luna felt a strange ache in her chest. It was almost three in the morning.

She didn’t know how well her plan to get Isolde and Damien together worked. A dangerous gamble. Her fingers twitched on her lap as Thessa brought the car to a halt. She hadn’t allowed herself to overthink it until now. But the truth clawed at her chest: If Damien gave in, it could taint the bond between them forever.